What a century of border films teaches about the real and imagined worlds of the US-Mexico borderlands—and how this understanding helps build better relations across boundaries.
Border Witness is an account of cultural collision and fusion between Mexico and the United States, as seen on the ground and in films from the past hundred years. Blending film studies with political and cultural geography, Michael Dear investigates the making of cross-border identity and community in the territories between two nations.
Border Witness introduces a new ‘border film’ genre just now entering its golden age. A geographer and activist, Dear adopts an accessible and engaged perspective, combining the stories told by these films with insights drawn from his own decades-long research and travel. From early silent films to virtual reality, and from revolution to the present global crisis, border films provide fresh evidence for real and imagined politics and for envisioning future transborder architectures carved from in-between spaces. In an era of global geopolitics that favors walls and war over diplomacy, Dear’s insights have relevance for borders around the world.
Table des matières
Introduction
Part 1 Origins
1. Border Witness: From the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico
2. Bisected Bodies: Early Silent Films
3. Making Filmscapes
4. Using Film as Evidence
5. Revolution and Modernization
6. The Great Migrations
7. Border Film Noir
Part 2 Fusions
8. Borderlands before Borders
9. From Final Girl to Woman Warrior
10. Narco Nations: Men at War
11. Lives of the Undocumented
12. Moral Tales, Border Law
13. Border Walls: Screen Folly and Fantasy
14. The Mexican Dream/El Sueño Mexicano
Part 3 Witness
15. A Golden Age for Border Film
16. Ways of Seeing the Border (Beyond Film)
17. Border Witness of the Future
Acknowledgments
Appendix 1: Chronological Filmography
Appendix 2: Alphabetical Filmography
Appendix 3: Map of US-Mexico Borderlands
Notes
References
Index
A propos de l’auteur
Michael Dear is author of Why Walls Won't Work and other works on border urbanism, Latinx culture in Los Angeles, and the urban humanities. He is a critic and curator, most recently of Califas: Art of the US-Mexico Borderlands.